Tag Archives: Redemption’s Edge

Meet Patrick Stairs

At 35 years of age, Patrick Stairs has a good life, carefully built. He has a rewarding and prestigious position as a senior investment consultant, and office gossip pegs him as the VP’s replacement within the next year.

He works long hours, plays racquetball at his club three times a week, and is a regular at business and social functions. A man with many acquaintances, but no close friends.

Patrick’s been walking empty for three years now, since his wife, Rita, lost their fight with the brain tumour. He tried every kind of treatment, to save her. When the expenses grew too extreme, Patrick began handling certain discreet deliveries. Amazing, how many executives in the city spice up their lives with drugs.

Now the boss – Lear – has tagged him with a new assignment. Carol Daniels. Pretty. Blond. With no idea Lear has her in his sights. She’ll know soon enough. Patrick pities anyone who had to deal with the drug lord. Including himself.

It’s not a hard assignment. Take a few meals at the café where Carol works, feed information back to Lear. She’s attractive enough. Patrick can feign interest for the time it takes to gain her trust.

Success could mean release from Lear’s clutches. Or so the drug lord promised. But the only promises Lear keeps are threats.

"Curse Lear and his string pulling. Someday the drug lord would get what was coming. Patrick just hoped he'd be there to see it."

Meet Paul Daniels

Keeping secrets? Just a few.

Paul Daniels is sixteen years old and living a double life. If his mother knew he was playing in a band, she’d freak. So she won’t find out.

Paul needs the music like he needs to breathe. It’s something he inherited from his father. The only plus about Mom dragging him half-way across the country to start a new life is the chance to take guitar lessons from Mr. Morelli. Paul works after school at the music store to pay for lessons. And he’s in a new band with some friends.

It’s hard fitting school work into his schedule, so Paul asked one of the class brains to help with his math. Bonus for him, she’s kind of cute. But he wouldn’t dare try adding a relationship into his jam-packed life.

He could never make it with Tara-Lynn anyway. He’s hiding too much. She’d be sympathetic about how his younger brother died of a drug overdose, but the anonymous caller who’s threatening his mom would scare her away. If that didn’t do it, hearing about his convict uncle would.

Is a sixteen-year-old even allowed to exchange letters with a dangerous offender? But Paul wants to know if his Uncle Harry has really changed. Now it sounds like Mom may have to write to the man, and Harry knows about the band. It all comes down to whether a convicted killer can keep a secret.

Sex and drugs and rock-n-roll--playing in a band is the least dangerous of the three. It's all Paul Daniels needs, but if his mom finds out, he's toast.

Meet Carol Daniels

If you’ve read Heaven’s Prey, you may remember that Harry Silver has a sister, Carol Silver Daniels. Secrets and Lies is Carol’s story, and it takes place chronologically between the final chapter of Heaven’s Prey and the epilogue.

Heaven’s Prey is psychological suspense, and pretty intense in places. Secrets and Lies has a lighter tone, and it’s romantic suspense. I hope you’ll enjoy it.

With Secrets and Lies releasing next month, I want to introduce some of my fictional friends. So… meet Carol Daniels.

Carol is a 30-something single mom, starting over in Toronto after an anonymous creep threatened her son, Paul. She didn’t tell Paul that’s why they left Calgary—why she dyed her dark hair honey ash and cut it short, why she started wearing glasses with non-corrective lenses. Why she’s so “controlling,” to use her son’s word for it.

Paul is sixteen and pushing the limits she sets. He’s a good kid, does well enough in school, but she can’t stop worrying that he’ll end up like his father: a loser musician who loved the spotlight—and the female fans—more than he loved his wife and sons.

I say “sons” because Carol and Skip had two, both from teen pregnancy. Carol would tell you life got easier once Skip died in a car wreck, but losing her other son nearly killed her. Keith was only twelve when he died of a drug overdose. If she hadn’t still had Paul to care for, and Keith’s dog, she’d never have kept her sanity.

No wonder a threat on Paul’s life sent her fleeing half-way across the country.

Why would someone threaten an innocent teen? Technically, the guy threatened them both, but he did suggest that her son was an easier target. As for why? Carol’s estranged brother is a dangerous offender: Harry Silver. You may have read about him in Heaven’s Prey. Harry’s enemies can’t touch him directly, but his family are walking around unprotected.

That’s what the note said, and that’s why Carol and Paul relocated with no forwarding address.

These days Carol works at the Sticky Fingers Café, baking desserts and waiting tables. She’s trying to keep anonymous in this new city, and outside of work she hasn’t met many people. Is it sad that speed dial #1 on her phone is the late-night deejay on the local oldies station? And #2 is a friend in Calgary?

Carol loves to bake, especially with chocolate. When the nightmares wake her, she’ll often whip up a pan of brownies or a batch of cookies. She’ll make herself a cup of tea—peppermint is her favourite—and ask for a Billy Joel song on the all-request oldies show. The deejay, Joey, is easy to talk to. And he doesn’t know who—or where—she is, so she’s safe.

What else do I need to tell you about Carol? She’s not as safe as she thinks she is. What’s coming is more than she can handle on her own. And she won’t pray for help, not after what happened the last time she tried prayer.

Carol quote

You can meet Carol, Paul, Joey and a few others this November in Secrets and Lies, Redemption’s Edge Book 2.

 

My Fiction: Update

I’ve been busy lately with final edits and formatting for Secrets and Lies, Redemption’s Edge book 2, which will release November 1. Soon I’ll be able to share the cover art with you… I can’t wait to see it. Christina Fuselli, who designed the cover of Heaven’s Prey, is on the job, so I know it’ll be great.

cover art: Heaven's Prey by Janet SketchleySpeaking of Heaven’s Prey, I’m giving away a copy over at Everyone’s Story (ends Oct. 3). Just pop over and leave a comment to be entered to win. I encourage you to stop by anyway and check out my guest post. It’s the story of my writing dream, and how God brought it back to life. Click to read: Making Daydreams Real.

If you’ve wanted to read Heaven’s Prey before the next novel comes out, time’s growing short. If you haven’t picked up a copy yet and don’t win one through Everyone’s Story, a few public libraries have copies. It’s also available in multiple ebook formats, and Amazon is processing the revised print version now. See my Heaven’s Prey book page for links.

Back to Secrets and Lies: Each Friday in October, I’ll introduce you to a character from the novel, with a special surprise for the final Friday in the month. This novel’s less intense than Heaven’s Prey, and it’s romantic suspense.

So What’s the Fuss About Indie Authors?

Independent AuthorsWhat’s an indie author, anyway? Independent. Self-published, but also self-directed and self-marketed.

As has always been the case, many authors self-publish because they’re not offered a traditional contract. That might mean their work isn’t high-quality, but it might also mean they have a great book for a small market. Publishers have to have high sales volume to cover their overhead. Or it could mean any number of other things. Maybe they defy genres. Or they just don’t fit in the marketing “box.”

Others are confident, tech-savvy, and would have to think long and hard about accepting a traditional publishing contract. They like their freedom and the higher rate of return per book sale.

As technology makes this option more accessible to writers and as the publishing houses are clinging more to known sellers and avoiding risk-taking, independent publishing can only rise.

For Readers:

Best bet? If you’re interested in any book, especially an independently-published one, use Amazon.com’s “look inside” feature (even if you plan to buy elsewhere–shhh). See what you think of the writing. Read some of the reviews, alert for clues about the quality.

Like Christian fiction? If you’re on Facebook, check out the Christian Indie Books group. You can scroll through the posts or click the “photos” tab to see galleries of participating authors’ books.

Or find Christian Indie Authors on Pinterest.

For Writers:

Here are some resources I’ve found very helpful:

Going Indie Internationally, by Valerie Comer, posted at International Christian Fiction Writers: part 1 & part 2.

India Drummond has an excellent Tutorial Walkthrough: Formatting Documents for Createspace. (Thank you to Steve Vernon for sharing this link with me.)

Online writers’ groups, especially those with a section for indie authors. Also, Createspace, Kindle Direct, Kobo’s Writing Life and others have user forums.

Why Me?

I was happily published with a traditional house, and I loved it. Choose NOW Publishing is small enough that they invited and accepted my input. I felt like part of the team. I learned a lot from the marketing director, and had flexibility in setting dates and price points for sales. When Choose NOW decided to discontinue its fiction line, I was disappointed, but I saw the potential. I’d already been learning what I needed to know for the indie route, and it was either finish the Redemption’s Edge series on my own or kiss it goodbye.

This summer I reacquired my rights to Heaven’s Prey (and bought the cover because I loved it too much to commission a different one). The series will stay together, even though there’s a definite downshift in the intensity level after book 1.

Heaven’s Prey, second edition with Canadian spellings and with the majorly embarrassing mistake corrected, is now available for Kindle, Kobo, Nook, iBooks and Scribd. The print book will be out shortly.

Redemption’s Edge #2, Secrets and Lies, is in the final editing stages and the cover will be ready sometime in September. I hope to release it November 1. Stay tuned for more information, and remember that my newsletter subscribers get the first look at the new cover!